Putting Back the Pieces
by Tyler743
Summary: Trust was what made people weak, and now she knew that awful truth. Never would she have imagined that one day he would be the one to rope her into this hell hole, but here she was. The rest of summery is inside :)
1. Chapter 1

**Trust was what made people weak, and now she knew that awful truth. Never would she have imagined that one day he would be the one to rope her into this hell hole, but here she was. ****Temari is sold into the sex industry, a hard life that she desperately wishes she could escape, but escape is unthinkable. She had tried once and it failed terribly. But one day she meets a strange man who changes her views on on everything around her, and she finds herself falling into a mix of emotions and decisions. Sadly, I do not own Naruto or its characters :(**

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No matter how many times she would tell herself it would be over soon, she knew deep down that nothing would change in the near future. And as the bulky stranger pulled himself from inside her, his breath ragged, his skin coated in a thin layer of sweat that gleamed in the dim light of the bedroom, she questioned herself if she would make it that long.

The man signed, one hand fumbling with the button of his pants, the other slicking his greasy hair back out of his face. The blonde who was sprawled spread eagle on the bed below him didn't move, nor did she even look at him.

"That was good sweetheart," he mumbled. "You sure know how to please'em." His pants were done up now and he leaned down, placing a rough, wet kiss on her cheek. She turned her head slightly, trying to escape his contact as much as she could. She could feel the smile on his lips as he pressed them to her skin, and she could smell alcohol reeking off his breath. He stood once again, grabbed his shirt from the floor and pulled it over his head before stumbling out of the room, leaving her there to wallow in her guilt and disgust.

How many times would she have to do this? When could she just go home and forget everything happened? Could she even forget at this point, she didn't know. All she knew was that she used to be strong willed; she used to know exactly who she was. But now she was broken, and unidentified, merely just an object. And that's what she hated the most.

After moments of looking at the ceiling, the blonde slowly got up and redressed herself before slinking to the bathroom. She didn't know if she was going to make it to the sink fast enough, but when she got there she began to cough up what felt like everything in her stomach. She thought she would have been used to this by now.

"Come on Temari..."she sobbed, clenching her eyes shut, whipping her mouth with the back of her hand. She turned the sink on and gathered a handful of water into her cupped hands, splashing it into her face as if to wake herself up. The cold water felt nice, refreshing, and it caused her to open her eyes.

She stared blankly into the mirror in front of her, or, she thought it was a mirror, but the woman standing adjacent to her didn't seem familiar. Her frizzy blonde hair looked almost straw like, dry and un-kept. She was made to curl it before this _"event",_ but she knew all too well that her hair didn't curl. It fell out within a half an hour. Her turquoise eyes that used to be so full of life and independence were now lifeless, dull orbs that seemed to stare through everything and anything. The dark makeup that surrounded them didn't compliment the color at all. She could also see the top of her discreditable dress. Far too low cut, far too much transparent fish net, far too short, and the thigh high fishnet stockings didn't help her either. She looked like a sluttly mess.

Standing up straight, she brushed her fingers through her tangled hair, trying to smooth it out, then she headed out of the bathroom, grabbing her stiletto heels from the bedside and leaving the dark room behind her.

Trying to be as quiet as she could, she tiptoed down the hallway of the Asian styled house, keeping her eyes peeled for her client. She could hear someone talking down the hallway by the front door, and when she reached the living room she noticed that the man was sitting in a chair with his back to her, cigarette in hand, watching the TV. On a small coffee table that sat behind the chair lay a stack of bills. Without saying a word to him, she snatched them from the table and quickly counted something she was told repeatedly to do, and rushed to the door.

Standing outside, beside a large wagon that was being pulled by a strong looking thorough bred, was a tall man. And although half of his face was hidden under the material of an off white turban, his one black eye gleamed with satisfaction.

"Took you long enough, Mari." he called over to her as she approached him, holding out the money, he took it and began to count.

"I already counted." she assured him, but he didn't stop. "Six hundred and -"

"Fifty." he finished her sentence, stuffing the money in his pocket. "Good girl."

His quick smile revolted her and she looked away, trying hard to subside the urge of kicking off her heels and trying to run as far away as she could.

After a moment or so of standing there, the man roughly grabbed her upper arm and headed to the coach of the wagon, wrenching the door open and shoving her towards the opening. Temari clenched her hands onto the railing and hoisted herself up and inside, barely missing having her leg caught in the slamming door behind her.

Inside the carriage were two other girls, probably those Baki had picked up earlier. One of them was sitting with one arm around the other, her short pink hair was twisted into a side braid and she too had on a mesh dress much like Temari's. The other girl had long raven hair that was tied up into two pigtails, and was wearing a revealing school girl outfit. She was huddled into the pink haired girl as if scared for her life, tears streaming down her face, smudging her makeup.

Temari took the seat opposite them and felt the carriage start to move. She frowned at the crying girl. Hinata was her name, the new girl. She couldn't help but feel bad for her, remembering when she too was the rookie.

"Is she okay?" Temari asked the pink haired girl. She nodded slowly in response, tightening her grip.

"She'll be fine. Just getting used to it I suppose."

"Tch," Temari once again bit back her disgust. "When do we ever get used to this..."

The rest of the ride was silent, other than Hinata's frequent sobs. When they finally arrived at the large brothel that was their home, the three girls piled out of the wagon and followed the turbaned man through the large doors of the main gate. Temari looked up at the building. In all honesty it was a beautiful piece of architecture, it was large, the grounds were stunning, a passerby wouldn't dare believe what the horrible truth about it really was.

"You better make her be quiet Sakura, or I'll do it myself." Baki shouted over his shoulder at the pink haired girl who was still trying to comfort upset newbie. Temari scowled at him. Despite the hate she now felt for him, she had personally grown up with the man. After the death of her mother, Baki had become somewhat of a mentor to her and her two younger brothers, they had trusted him, and actually grew to _"love him"._ But trust was what made people weak, and now she knew that awful truth. Never would she have imagined that one day he would be the one to rope her into this hell hole, but here she was.

"Shh," Sakura hushed Hinata. "We're almost home."

Home. Somewhere Temari feared she would never see again. She missed her brothers, she missed her city. She didn't even get the chance to say goodbye, and that was over six months ago. She knew they probably hadn't given up looking for her, but she'd doubt they'd ever find her. Her city was all the way back in Suna, some hundred miles away from where she was now.

As soon as they walked into the building, they stopped following Baki, who continued down the tatami mat hallway, and turned right towards a large sliding door. They entered, and were met by about a dozen other women, all dressed in nothing but their bra and underwear. Immediately, Temari began to strip out of her defiling attire, tossing everything into a large bin that sat beside the door. Sakura and Hinata followed her actions.

"How was your day..?" a small brunette who stood at the front of the group said hesitantly, trying to spark casual conversation. She was a petit girl, brown eyes, fair skin. Her chocolate hair was tied up in two tight, Chinese buns.

"How do you think their day was, Tenten?" a blonde who stood beside her hissed, throwing her arms across her chest. "Fucking terrific! You can definitely tell the new girl enjoyed herself by the way she's crying her eyes out!"

The brunette withdrew herself and took a step back, bowing her head awkwardly in shame. Sakura looked at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"She's just trying to lighten the mood, Ino."

The blonde stuck her nose in the air, her long ponytail dancing behind her at the motion. "Whatever…"she mumbled.

Temari didn't feel like sticking around to talk, she pushed past the other girls and headed towards the shower room, she wanted nothing more than to cleanse herself completely of her earlier actions.

Not even bothering to remove her undergarments, Temari turned the tap on full blast and allowed the water to take her to a better place. For a moment, as she felt the water brush over every inch of her tattered skin, she imagined she was back with her brothers, back in her house, with people who actually loved her. When she was there, she would often complain about her brothers, she had even told them once that she wished she didn't have to live with them. How foolish she had been, how immature, because right now, the only thing she wanted, really wanted was to see their faces again.

Gaara was her youngest brother. They had never been extremely close as siblings, but they could always go to each other whenever they had a problem, or something they just wanted to talk about. She cared deeply for him, and wondered if he was doing okay without her there to make him his tea just the way he liked it. Then there was Kankuro, the middle child, the one who really liked to grind Temari's gears. The two had never really gotten along; constantly teasing one another, one would say they had the perfect stereotypical brother/sister relationship. But when it all came down to it, they loved each other more than anything in the world, and had each other's backs no matter what. In a way, Temari guessed she was like a mother to them. Since their mother had died when they were all very young, and their father was always busy with work, she was the one who took responsibility to take care of them, and watch out for them. It seemed almost imaginable that for the past half a year they were all on their own with no one to guide them. How could they do it?

Temari turned off the tap and walked over to a wooden cupboard that was built into the wall of the shower room. She took out a towel, dried herself, took out a new pair of underwear and a new bra, discarded her old ones and put them on. Then she left the shower room, and went straight to their sleeping chamber.

It was a small room considering there were about twenty something girls who resided in the brothel. The futons were placed on the floor with only a small gap in between them. Temari went to the far side of the room, to her futon and sank to her knees, crawling under the warm blankets. She knew it was probably only around five o-clock, and she knew she would miss dinner, but she didn't care. All she wanted to do was to sleep the rest of this day away. So closing her eyes, she tried as hard as she could to think about her thoughts in the shower, but somehow Baki, and the man from earlier, and the men from the past six months kept creeping their way back into her mindset. And it took her longer to get to sleep then she wanted.

She managed to sleep the whole night until six am the next morning, when their usually wakeup call from the foreman's suck-up, a girl named Karin, interrupted her deep slumber. Cursing under her breath, along with every other girl around her, Temari dragged herself out of bed.

Breakfasts were never a part of the day anyone looked forward to here. They were crowded, the food wasn't appetizing in the least, and after breakfast came roll call. Roll call was what happened every morning, and would tell every girl what her job would be for the day. If you were lucky, your job could be to stay in and clean the residence, or file paperwork for the higher ups. But usually you were assigned to yuujo duty, in other words prostitution.

Temari sat down at the long table, a plate of soupy porridge in hand, and took the seat beside Sakura. Hinata was on the other side of her, her light blue eyes were swollen and red, most likely from spending the night crying. Tenten sat across from them, holding her spoon tightly in her hand and staring down at her own bowl of slop.

"They could at least give us some decent breakfast food..." she sighed under her breath, before raising the spoon to her lips and taking a small bite of her food. The others watched as her face scrunched up and forced it down her throat with a hard swallow. "I think they added more water this time."

"Is that even possible?" Temari asked, giving the food an experimental poke with her spoon and watched as the water rippled.

"Apparently..."

"Stupid bitch..."

The girls all looked over to see Ino stalking over to them. She slapped her plate down beside Tenten and sat on the bench, her blue eyes narrowed into slits.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked. Ino looked at her, her expression clearly tired and annoyed.

"It's that moronic whore, Karin." she snapped, smacking the table with her hand, hard. A few other girls who were sitting beside them looked over. "She informed me a few minutes ago, that she told Baki, who told Kisame who told Nagato that I've been cutting out on my cleaning duties, so now I'm apparently put on yuujo duty today and for the rest of the foreseeable schedule." Ino was one of the lucky ones who had the privilege of staying on cleaning duties.

"Have you been cutting out?" Tenten questioned, putting her spoon down in her bowl, and pushing it away from her.

"No! Of course I haven't! She just has it out for me for some reason." Ino began shoveling her own porridge into her mouth, until that is she realized the taste and or texture and her jaw fell open, the soupy substance dropping back into the bowl.

"Charming..." Sakura mumbled.

Ino took a napkin that Tenten had lying beside her bowl and wiped fiercely at her mouth. "That is disgusting! Why do they insist on feeding us this crap? We're the ones who pull in the cash for them for kami sakes!"

Temari's eyes shifted over to Hinata who was silently looking at the raging Ino. Her eyes were slightly fearful, and she could tell that the girl felt intimidated. Temari leaned slightly over the table and smiled reassuringly at her.

"She isn't always like this," the girl slowly turned her head to look at her. "She's just bitter right now because of Karin."

Hinata nodded her head, and forced a small smile. But still, she didn't say a single word.

"Anyway, in other news, I overheard that skank talking to one of the guards. Apparently a lucky group will be on birthday duty tonight!" her enthusiasm was extremely sarcastic, and everyone could tell. Birthday duty was when a set group a girls were sent to _"perform"_ at some low life's birthday party, or sometimes a bachelor party, or sometimes just a party in general.

Fortunately for Temari, Sakura, Tenten and Ino they had never been assigned to work a party before.

"Oh joy," Tenten said, rolling her eyes. "Hopefully our luck holds up."

After breakfast, the girls all headed to the showers. It was protocol that they had at least two showers a day, they needed to keep clean, nobody wanted an unhygienic client. Also with their morning showers came the daily pregnancy test that they each had to take. Pregnancy was a big issue at the brothel as it was completely against regulations to be fertile. If one was pregnant, immediate action had to be taken to abort it. Luckily Temari herself had never been pregnant, but she had heard from Sakura that years ago Ino had been once, and a few times she would notice random girls disappear for a few days only to return even more down than usual.

By the time all of that was done, it was time for morning roll call. All the girls stood single file in the main hall of the building, waiting to hear what their daily duty was going to be. After a few moments of waiting, four figures entered the hallway from a sliding door at the very far end. The first was Baki, who was followed closely by a skipping red headed girl, with a much too happy expression, and black rimmed glasses. Karin Uzumaki. Temari noticed Hinata who was beside her stretch her neck to see who else was coming towards them, but she already knew.

Lord Pain, and Lady Konan, two of the brothels higher ups. Temari sucked in a breath, it wasn't very often the two of them joined Baki for roll call, something must have been up. Looking around, she noticed that a few of the guards had appeared. Kisame Hoshigaki and a newer guard named Hidan were standing across from the girls, snickering and whispering to each other. For a split moment, her eyes and Hidan's met, she quickly looked away. Out of all the guards, Hidan was the one she trusted least, one reason being that he was the newest member, she wasn't used to him like she was the others, and there was just something shady about him.

Baki pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and began calling names and assigning rolls. Once the rolls were given to each individual, they would go off down the hall to a wide staircase that led to the dressing chambers. There they would have their hair done, along with their makeup and waxing, and they would also be dressed in appropriate attire.

"Matsuri Minagawa! Cleaning duty!" he shouted. Temari looked down the line of girls until her eyes landed on a young looking brunette. A look of relief washed over her face and she nodded her head and.

"Sari Ootori! Cleaning!"

Temari felt Hinata tense beside her, so she reached down and took her hand in her own, giving it a light squeeze. Hinata didn't look at her, but instead squeezed back. When it came down to Temari's group, Baki and the others stopped and for once he looked up from his list. Temari felt her heart stop in her chest as she waited for him to say what she knew he was going to. She moved her gaze to Pain and Konan; they were both staring at the group, their faces expressionless. Finally it came.

"Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, Tenten Li, and Shabaku no Temari. You ladies are on party duty tonight." he flashed them a smile before looking down at his list again and continuing on. Karin smiled devilishly at them as well, puffing her chest out as she walked.

"Hinata Hyuuga, paperwork!"

Temari shook her head as she watched them walk away. Ino threw her hands on her hips and stomped her foot on the floor, as if she were an upset child.

"This is just perfect! I get taken from cleaning duty and thrown right into this shit. Lucky me."

"We've never been put on party duty before..." Sakura stated the obvious fact whilst hanging her head. "I don't know if I can entertain a group of guys for more than an hour..."

Tenten shrugged her shoulders. "Well it can't be that hard...I mean there's going to be four of us."

The sound of a low chuckle made the girls stop their conversation and look up. Hidan was striding over to them, an amused smile played on his lips. Temari continued to try to avoid eye contact with him.

"Well, well, ladies," his voice was loud, and sing-song. "Looks like you get to have some fun tonight." he murmured, leaning his face into the crook of Temari's neck, inhaling deeply. Temari jerked away from him as if he was coming at her with fire, her turquoise eyes finally looking at him, warning him to stay away. He laughed again and took a step backwards.

"Fuck, I thought you girls were supposed to be easy, not scary as hell."

Before anyone could say anything more, Kisame strode over to them and clamped a pale hand down on Hidan's shoulder, a large ear to ear, toothy grin plastered to his face.

"Now, now Hidan. Don't get them riled up before the big show tonight."

"Wasn't my intentions. I just wanted to congratulate them on the news."

The two guards gave the girls the same, eerie smile that once again made Hinata tense. She clutched Temari's arm with both hands and sunk behind her.

"From what I can remember, none have you been assigned to a party before." Kisame's voice was calm, but there was an edge to it that just couldn't be placed. "Have you?"

Before the girls could answer, or ignore the guards, a soft voice spoke from behind them.

"Is there a problem, Kisame, Hidan?"

The group all turned around to see Konan standing there. Her voice was quiet, and monotone, her amber eyes were fixated on the two men. They bowed their heads to her in respect, both saying no in unison.

Konan nodded her head. "Then please, be off." With that they retreated down the hallway. Once they were out of sight Konan looked at the girls, mainly Hinata.

"Ms. Hyuuga, please go to the preparation room."

Hinata hesitated for a moment, before letting go of Temari's arm and hastened down the hall, her long hair swishing behind her.

"Now," Konan began. "You girls will come with me."


	2. Chapter 2

**Shorter chapter than the last, but I hope you'll enjoy :D (the next chapter should be longer, I was just so eager to get this up!)**

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Konan took the girls to a separate preparation room that they had all to themselves. It was large, bright, and full of costumes for them to wear. Before they could get dressed however they had to strip down and have Kakuzu, the doctor, look them over to make sure nothing was out of place. Their mouths had to be checked, their breasts examined, they couldn't have any bruises, no scrapes, their skin had to be perfect. This time Sakura was the only one who had a slight bruise on her inner thigh, but Kakuzu said that because it was fading, it could easily be concealed with makeup. After the checkup it was time to be waxed. The girls followed Konan into a small bright, blue room with two body tables. Ino and Tenten got on first and let Konan and Kakuzu wax everything; legs, both upper and lower, stomachs, backs, vaginas, underarm. Everything. Luckily the girls were used to since it was something that had to be done every few days, so pain wasn't that big of an issue. Temari and Sakura went next, and when they were finished they were allowed to slip on thin white robes so that they could go have their makeup done.

The one who did their makeup was a young man around Temari's age, named Deidara. Despite being a nineteen year old boy he had an unusual talent for cosmetics, and any other type of artistic activity. Temari had to admit he was talented, and other than Konan, he was probably the only other one she semi felt comfortable around. Unlike the others he never commented on the girls who resided in the brothel, really he only commented on his own skills. It got annoying listening to his vein statements all of the time, but anyone who lived there would say that they'd rather listen to him them listen to creepy Hidan like characters make crude and vulgar comments any day.

"Make sure you leave it natural this time, Deidara." Konan insisted as she watched him powder over Ino's face with a kabuki brush. She had been sitting as still as a statue for a while and so far her eyes were coated with dark smoky shadow and liner, and her foundation made her face look flawless. Deidara cast Konan a doubtful look and raised a blonde eyebrow at her.

"Konan, let me do what I do. I don't tell you how to do your job."

"Pain has instructed that they look natural this time, to complement their costumes."

"Konan," Deidara put the kabuki brush down and tapped Ino lightly on the shoulder, insinuating to her that she was finished. She got the message and slipped down from her seat, Tenten took her place. "I know what true art is. I can tell what compliments a cream bustier."

Konan didn't say another word as he began working on Tenten, nor did she protest when he finished all four girls with a simple smoky eye, then continued on to tie their hair up into messy, yet chic buns.

Sure enough, their costumes were simple, off white Basques, that had matching underwear, a built in garter belt and once again, thigh high stockings, also off white. Everything about the outfit was transparent mesh, except for the bra section of the Basque, the underwear, and the very tops of the stockings which were all white lace. It wasn't as bad as some of the outfits they were made to wear, so Temari really didn't mind it all that much. But it was still a degrading article of clothing, and as she pulled it up over her hips, she dread the moment she had to walk into the room of the party, in front of however many men were going to be there.

Once they were all dressed, Konan told them what they were expected to do. Temari's eyes shifted to the clock that hung on the wall behind their advisor, the hands fell to exactly three thirty. Where the hell did the time go? When they first arrived in the room, as she recalled it had only been eight thirty in the morning. Had it really taken them six hours just to do their hair and makeup? She supposed seen as there was only one cosmetic artist, and four girls. But as Konan said, they were expected to be at the party at precisely five o'clock, and by carriage ride it took around forty five minutes to breach Konoha, the location of the party, from the brothel. To be there on time, they still had forty five minutes to do absolutely nothing, but she supposed that that wasn't the case and Konan probably expected them to do some other tedious task.

However, much too her surprise, once Konan was finished speaking, she told the girls to remain in the room until Baki arrived to take them out, then she, Deidara and Kakuzu left them alone. Unaware of what to do, the girls sat down on the floor and stayed quiet for a while.

"At least Hinata didn't have to come." Sakura murmured eventually, pressing her back to the wall and hugging her knees tightly to her chest. No response.

Temari could feel her heart pounding in her chest; she wasn't yet ready for another day in this life. She wondered for a while what the men were going to be like. Old? Young? Good looking or greasy like the man from yesterday? She shuttered at the thought, hoping that was not the case.

After what felt like hours of drowning in silence, the door to the room opened and Baki appeared, causing the girls to all get to their feet.

"Alright," he roared. "Let's go."

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Forty five minutes later, the large wall surrounding Konoha came into view for the wagon. The girls all took turns peering out the small, single window of the coach, trying to get a better view.

"It looks big…" Ino started, backing away from the window and taking her seat beside Temari. "There's probably going to be a lot of people at this thing…"

Temari took to the window and looked out while the other girls talked about the party. The wagon was finally entering the village, and from what she could see people were everywhere walking along the streets, past large colorful buildings, laughing and talking amongst each other. It reminded her of how she used to be in Suna, happy, free. She also noticed that everything around the coach had a slight orange glow to it, a sure sign that the sun was just beginning to set. But it was only five o'clock. After a few seconds of thinking, her eyebrows slowly furrowed at the realization that she had lost her sense of time since arriving at the brothel. From what she could remember Baki had brought her in sometime around the end of May, and she had been there for about half a year, so naturally it would be November. But before this moment, she had forgotten what day it was. She had forgotten the month. It took her a sunset to remind her that time was gradually slipping through her fingers.

Pushing herself away from the window, she sighed and sat back, leaning her head against the wall behind her. Ino looked at her with concerned eyes but said nothing.

After another few minutes of bumping around in the coach of the wagon, it came to a stop. The girls all jerked at the sudden halt, and barely had time to straighten themselves up again before Baki yanked open the door and called them out. They did as they were told. Tenten sneezed as soon as she stepped out of the coach, wrapping her arms around herself. It was colder here then it was back at the brothel, luckily before leaving on their journey Konan had given them long, red coats to put on over their costumes. She must have anticipated the Konoha autumn weather. But nonetheless, it was still a little chilly against the autumn wind.

"This is it." Baki stuffed his hands into the pockets of his beige flak jacket and nodded to a large building straight ahead of them. It looked like it was only about two stories, but it was long. The siding was left white with a blue trim around the doors and windows, and a blue roof. An old wooden sign hung above the door that read _"Konoha Kyabakura", _was also being knocked around by the wind, tapping against the plaster of the building.

The girls all followed Baki inside of the Kyabakura. The entrance room was small; there was only a desk, a small chair beside the desk, and two doors that led who knows where, and the lighting was dim. The only good thing about the small room was that it sheltered them from the cold. Baki stepped over to the desk and rang a small bell that sat on its surface, summoning the host. Temari's eyes, along with the other three's all looked from one door to the other, wondering which one someone would come from. From above them, a loud thumping could be heard. Music. The party had already started.

It didn't take long before the door to the left of the desk slid open and a tall man with short brown hair and glasses came out. He went right over to Baki and outstretched his hand.

"Ebisu." Baki addressed him, accepting his hand and giving it a firm shake. The man with glasses nodded his head.

"Baki. Are these them?" He looked at Temari and the others, letting go of the other man's hand.

"Yes sir. Four of the best we have."

"Good. The boys just got here not too long ago. They'll be waiting."

"Yes sir."

Ebisu went behind the desk and began digging through a pile of papers that were stacked on one of the corners. Finally he pulled one out and outstretched it to Baki. Temari narrowed her eyes, trying her best to see what was on the paper, but her attempts failed as Baki immediately folded the paper up and tucked it in his pocket.

"I'll be back around eleven to pick them up. Have them ready." he demanded, backing up towards the door. Ebisu nodded and walked in the opposite direction, towards the door to the right of the desk.

"Of course. Girls."

With that, the four entertainers followed him into the door, up a set of stairs and into a dark hallway that was only slightly illuminated by a room at the very end that was expelling various colors of light. The music was now blaring and Temari knew that the room was their destination. Before the arrived at the door however, Ebisu threw his hand in front of them, stopping them in their tracks.

"Jackets off. Here." He ordered. They stripped off their jackets, dropping them on the floor of the hallway. He smiled, looking them up and down. "Good." His arm dropped and they, without him, proceeded to the room.

Balloons were floating everywhere, streamers were strung, the bass of the music was so intense the walls were vibrating, and a large sign hung from the wall. _Happy Nineteenth Birthday Naruto. _Ino flinched the entered the room, her hands jumping to protect her ears.

"This is going to be fun!" she shouted, trying to be heard over the music.

The boys were all seated at the over end of the room, laughing and talking (yelling) amongst themselves. There were eight of them, half of them with a drink in hand. It seemed they hadn't noticed the girls come in because none of them made a move as the four stood there awkward, waiting.

"We should go in." Sakura suggested. "Get this over with." The others nodded and they sashayed into the room. One of the boys, a lanky brunette with two red face paint markings on his cheeks was the first to notice them. He nudged a blonde who was sitting beside him in the gut and wolf whistled.

"Hey guys, look who's here!" The other men all looked over. Temari smiled at them, the best possible sexy smile she could. She was now close enough to see them all, see what the damage would be.

They all looked about her brother's age, a few years younger than herself. Not old. And none of them were amazingly bad looking. One was slightly overweight, one looked like a completely loser, and one looked like hooded Unabomber (she would make sure to stay clear of that one) but other than that they were all relatively good looking young men. The blonde was obviously the birthday boy, Naruto as the sign had said. He had on a white t-shirt that was covered with an orange windbreaker jacket, and a dumb looking crown on his head that screamed _"birthday boy"._ Beside him was the loud mouth who had noticed the girls first, she could tell he was going to be one of those cocky man-I'm-good type of douche bags she had known in her Suna days. She wasn't very fond of a man whose balls were bigger than his brains, never had been.

Other than that there was the chubby boy, who not surprisingly was stuffing his face with a bag full of potato chips, the Unabomber kid, the loser with the bowl cut, a long haired looking sissy boy, an amazing good looking yet dark and mysterious black haired boy, and yet another cocky looking asshole who was sitting at the back of the crowd. His dark eyes piercing expressionlessly at the girls. Temari didn't like the way his unfazed expression made her feel even more degraded then she already did, so she made the quick decision to stay clear of him as well.

Naruto's jaw dropped at the sight of the girls and he jumped up from his chair. "Hello ladies!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Another chapter up! :) Enjoy and review please!**

* * *

Lidded azure eyes, slight trace of drool dripping from his animated stretched smile, it was clear to Temari that the blonde who stood before them was a complete idiot. But what could you expect from a nineteen year old boy?

"Hello ladies!" he called to them dopily.

"You must be the birthday boy." Sakura chimed, leaning her weight on one hip. He nodded quickly. The brunette beside him puffed out his chest and put his hands behind his head, leaning back on his chair.

"He sure is! Naruto Uzumaki! And my names Kiba, Kiba Inuzuka." He flashed them a toothy smile. Ino and Temari exchanged glances. Yup. Just as she predicted. Cocky bastard. The bowl cut boy, who was sitting in the chair behind Kiba, stood up, stumbling slightly in the process, causing the beer that was in his hand to spill onto the lap of the long haired boy who sat beside him. He quickly stood as well, brushing at his white pants.

"Watch it Lee!" he snapped. _Lee_ looked at him for a moment with squinted eyes, as if he was trying to spot something that was miles away. It was clear that he was drunk.

"S…sorry –hic- Neji." He slurred, before looking at the girls and raising his drink in the air as if nothing had happened. "Well-hic-what are we…waiting for! Let's get this paaaarty staaarted!" Again, as she predicted. A complete loser.

* * *

The first hour of the night passed painfully slow, or so it did in Temari's opinion. After the quick "introduction", each of the girls branched off with a boy, and unfortunately Temari was stuck with the Inuzuka jerk. They began with talking, or at least he talked and she listened. She couldn't get a word in otherwise with him boasting about himself. She was made to just smile, nod, and occasionally when he wasn't looking, roll her eyes. He did however, after a minute or two begin to talk about how hot he thought the girls looked, and how horny it made him just being there with someone as good looking as her. _Great_.

She looked around the room as he continued. Sakura was with Naruto sitting at a round bar that was placed on the other side of the room. He seemed to be, much like Kiba, talking the ear off her, and she, like Temari, looked as if she couldn't care less. Lee was also sitting at the bar, alone, staring up at the ceiling, his black hair falling back off of his face. Temari snickered to herself at the poor sight, before scanning the rest of the room. Tenten and Neji were sitting on a red sofa that was up against the far wall by the window, she was talking to him, running her hand up and down his leg. Ino and the black haired boy were gone. Temari guessed that they had probably set off to begin their night in private. Her eyes final destination was back to the chairs where the boys were sitting when they first arrived. Unabomber was sitting alone, looking around at everything that was happening around him, and chubby and the other boy were talking to each other. They didn't seem interested at all in being there.

"Hm," Temari hummed to herself. It wasn't very often she ran into a client who wasn't happy being there. The two boys began to laugh at their conversation, and for the first time, Temari realized that the other boy was fairly good looking. In the neon lights, it was hard to tell exactly what color his clothing was, but she could tell he was wearing a dark shinobi flak jacket, much like the one that Baki, or her brothers, or even her _old self_ wore. Underneath, was a black turtle neck, and black pants. His black hair was pulled back into a short ponytail and his dark eyes had a softness to them that that she hadn't seen in a man in months. But that was probably only because he was talking, and laughing with a friend. Even someone like Hidan could have a look, almost like that while talking to Kisame, or one of the other guards.

"So you wanna go?"

Temari blinked, the voice bringing her back to the present moment, and she looked around at Kiba. His black eyes were staring into hers, lust swimming around his pupils. She hesitated for a moment before nodding. Without a moment to spare, the boy grabbed her hand and pulled her towards a door. Within seconds they were inside a small room that was bordered with another couch, and he was pulling his pants down. Temari looked away as he did so and made sure the door was closed. Kiba sat down on the sofa, his legs spread just wide enough for someone to sit between them, and he stared at her waiting. Temari took it as a hint and gave him a large, fake, smile. She slowly walked over to him, placed her hands on his knees and lowered herself to the ground.

"Is this what you want?" she said in a whisper, lidding her eyes and slowly inching her face forwards, closer to his erect member. Kiba squirmed underneath her, his eyes rolling back in his head and he licked his lips.

"Yes…" he replied. Temari took a breath and mentally swore to herself for falling to such heights before running her tongue from the base of his shaft to the tip, taking it into her mouth. Kiba sucked in a breath and stiffened as she bobbed up and down, taking as much of him into her mouth as she possibly could. One of his hands grabbed a fistful of her hair and moved her, setting the pace he wanted.

Temari tried her best not to gag every time he pushed her down too far, but it couldn't be helped. Luckily it didn't take long before he exploded into her mouth and pulled her roughly away. Temari forced herself to swallow his bitter seed.

"That was amazing!" he panted, his hand letting go of her hair. Temari again, fake smiled at him and stood up, leaning over his half naked body. She began to run light kisses down his neck to his collarbone.

"Do you want more?" she said against his skin. Without answering, Kiba began pulling at her garter belt and panties. She'd take that as a yes.

* * *

Afterwards, Temari left the room feeling exhausted. Both mentally and physically. This boy had not only talked big in a normal conversation, but every two seconds while they were having sex he would ask her to say how good he felt. She had felt like a record player, and he seemed quite chuffed with himself about it. Closing the door behind him, Kiba quickly slapped her behind, winked and headed off towards the bar. Temari sighed to herself and crossed her arms over her chest. Only a few more hours left to go.

She spotted Tenten standing alone in the center of the room, playing with the tip of a string from a balloon that had floated to the ceiling, and quickly walked over to her.

"How are you holding up?" she asked once she reached the girl. Tenten stopped playing and looked at her, her expressions also warn out.

"Alright. I just finished up a few minutes ago actually."

"Me too." Temari looked around for the long haired boy that she saw with Tenten before. He was nowhere in sight. "Where'd he go?"

"Hm? Who?"

"The long haired guy you were with?"

Tenten snickered and shook her head. "He wasn't the guy I did it with. Nope, turns out he was actually a decent human being and turned me down. I think he went to the bathroom."

Temari raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so who were you with then."

The brunette quickly scanned the room until she spotted Unabomber, then she nodded towards him. Temari's eyes widened and she couldn't help but laugh.

"You did it with that guy? Are you serious?"

Tenten dropped her head, clearly in shame. "Yeah…and trust me, he's into some pretty weird things."

Temari's laugh became louder and she patted the girl on the back, feeling only slightly sympathetic. Tenten nudged her hand away with her shoulder by turning her body, smiling a bit herself.

"Yeah, yeah. At least I'm not Sakura. The birthday boy has been hanging off her all night, I feel bad."

The two girls turned their attention to the bar where Naruto and Sakura were still sitting. Sakura looked as if she was about to murder someone at any minute as the blonde had his arms wrapped around her shoulders. Temari shook her head. Sakura had never been the most patient out of the group; she couldn't believe she had actually managed to put up with the boy for that long. But it was their job to do as the clients wanted; it was what they were getting paid for.

Tenten cleared her throat and tapped Temari on the arm, causing her to look at her. Their eyes met, and immediately Tenten shot her gaze to the side. It took Temari a moment to realize she wanted her to do the same, but when she did her eyes fell on the ponytailed hair boy and the chubby boy for the third time that night. The chubby boy was looking down at his lap, his face illuminated by a tiny Gameboy that he was playing with. The ponytailed boy was looking towards the two girls, his dark eyes glued.

"He's been looking at you since you came out of the room." Tenten tried to whisper, but the volume of the music made it hard, so it came out more like a shout. "He probably wants something."

Temari sighed. She had told herself that she didn't want to get involved with him because of the look of his judging demeanor, but if it meant more money, she supposed.

"I'll go over then." She told Tenten, taking a step forward.

"Have fun."

Temari advanced towards the tables and chairs where the two boys were seated. Ponytail's eyes followed her until she was standing right in front of him, hands on her hips. She stretched her lips, giving him a closed mouth smile. _Here goes nothing._

"Hey handsome. What's your name?" she tried to say it politely as she could, but his furrowed eyebrows, and irritated expression was making it hard. The boy looked at her for a moment before turning his head to face the other way, ignoring her words completely. Temari felt taken aback for a moment until anger hit. "Um, I'm sorry. Did you want me to come over or not?" she pushed. She was getting annoyed. How dare he belittle her like that, she knew this was a mistake. The boy's eyes shifted up at her, but he kept his head turned.

"Not really." was his response.

"Then why were you staring me down!?"

Finally the boy turned his head to look at her. "I was just trying to figure out why it is girls would want to belittle themselves like this just to make a dime, instead of actually doing something productive with their lives. I didn't expect you to come over, I was just lost in thought and you happened to be in the general area of where I was looking."

Temari felt like she was slapped in the face, hard. And it wasn't very often she felt like that. Who the hell did this little shinobi punk think he was to talk down to her, the Sand Princess, like that? Of course he didn't know she was the sand princess but that was beside the point.

"How dare you!" she hissed, refraining herself from beating him into a pulp. "I came here to entertain, not to get insulted!"

The boy snorted out a half chuckle and stood up. Despite his obvious younger age, he towered over Temari by about two or three feet. She looked up to him, suddenly feeling small. The chubby boy beside them also looked up from his game to see what was happening.

"You leaving, Shikamaru?" he asked ponytail, readying himself to stand as well. Shikamaru shook his head, his hand diving into his pocket, and he brought out a pack of cigarettes.

"No Chouji, just going out for a smoke."

_Good!_ Temari thought to herself as the boy side stepped her and began to walk away_. A smoker. I hope he dies of lung cancer._

Without thinking, and probably due to rage, Temari stomped back over to Tenten, cursing with every step she took. Tenten frowned.

"I'll take it, it didn't go well."

Temari looked at her and she could have sworn that Tenten flinched back as if she was scared she was going to strike her.

"No, he's a prick!" she shouted, hoping that it was loud enough for him to hear her words before he reached the door to the balcony. "I'd pick Inuzuka over that asswipe any day."

* * *

A little more time went by, maybe three hours or so with more meaningless sex. Kiba had come back to her two more times, each time a little more intoxicated than the last. She also almost slept with Lee once, but before they even made it to the room he passed out on the floor and she was forced to help him to the sofa where Tenten and Neji were sitting at the beginning of the night. Ino and the black haired boy, who Temari figured out was called Sasuke, finally came back from one of the rooms and joined Naruto and Sakura at the bar, and Tenten went off again with Unabomber whose name was apparently Shino. Temari was beginning to lose her cool. Six hours was far too long to spend in a place like this, it was making her feel on edge. After her third go with Kiba, she sat down at the bar, cutting between Sakura and Naruto, who had for once turned his attention away from the girl to talk to Sasuke. Sakura was sitting lifelessly with one elbow propped on the counter of the bar, her cheek resting in her hand.

"Is this night almost over?" Her questioned sounded so hopeful, Temari almost didn't want to tell her they still had two hours left. But nonetheless, she shook her head, apologetically. Sakura's hand whipped out from under her cheek and she slapped it against her forehead.

"I can't take this anymore." she admitted. "I could actually handle just going and sleeping with him, but this…talking to him for four hours straight is unbearable! I actually want to hurl myself out the window!"

Naruto turned back around from talking to Sasuke and again through his arms around Sakura's shoulders. Sakura flinched and Temari could have sworn she saw her emerald eyes flash red.

"You know what….I think!" Naruto yelled. Temari curled her lip, his breath smelled of alcohol, a smell she had really grown to hate. Sakura didn't reply, neither did Temari. "I think we shhhould go somewhere alone."

As soon as the word _"go"_ was out of his mouth, Sakura was up out of her chair. "Me too," she agreed quickly. "Let's go!"

With that, the pink haired girl pulled him away towards one of the private rooms Temari had grown to know oh too well in the past few hours. She smiled as she watched them go. _Poor Sakura. _

Temari felt someone sit on the stool behind her, and she whirled around to see who it was, but as soon as she did she wished she hadn't. Because now it was too late to pretend she didn't see, and just turn back around.

"Taking a break?" Shikamaru asked her as the bartender passed him a bottle of beer. He popped the cap open and took a quick swig. Temari's nostrils were being invaded by the smell of Tabaco, and she wished for a moment that it was alcohol instead.

"What do you want?" she shot, clenching her hands into fists. Shikamaru's mouth left the bottles lip with a smack and he put it down on the table, he stared straight ahead.

"I was just asking a question. You know, trying to start conversation."

"If you want something from me, you can forget that right now! Because I refuse. I don't care how much more money I'd get."

"Furthest thing from my mind actually."

Temari eyed him for a minute. "What kind of man doesn't like hookers at a bar party?" she asked, literally curious. The boy shrugged his shoulders and thought for a moment.

"I don't know, it's just not my style I guess. I was raised to respect women."

_HA! Respect. Okay. _

Temari scoffed at his statement and looked away, trying desperately to spot Kiba to see if he wanted another go, but she couldn't see him.

"What about you?" he questioned when she didn't respond. Temari looked back at him, an eyebrow raised.

"What about me, what?"

He shook his head. "Never mind."

Leaning back on his chair and glancing over his shoulder, he looked like he was the one annoyed. "It's just…you don't seem like the kind of girl to go along with something like this."

"How would you know what kind of girl I am? You met me only a few hours ago."

"That's all it takes to know you're a stubborn, demanding, pushy woman. Not your usual every day, whip-around whore."

That was it. Temari pushed herself away from the bar table and marched away from him, infuriated. Half of her wanted to punch his sorry ass into next year, but she knew she would get into shit for that back at the brothel. The brothel, a place she actually _wanted_ to go back to at that point. She where she was now and she hated the people who were there. She just wanted more than anything for the night to be over so she would never have to see _his_ face, ever again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Next chapter up :) Got a little bit more Temari/Shikamaru interaction, which I hope you enjoy. Comment and enjoy :)**

* * *

The next morning mirrored the last perfectly. Temari was wrenched from her dream world by the screechy _"Rise and shine!"_ Karin would yell at an unnecessary high pitch volume into the sleeping quarters of the brothel, before slamming the sliding doors closed and trailing down the hallway. As the other girls grumbled and crawled out of their futons to hit the showers, Temari remained curled up, her eyes refusing to open. She had thought, hoped that maybe since she had had a late night yesterday, there might have been a small chance that she would get the day off to sleep in. But that was foolish of her. Since she had arrived to this god forsaken place she hadn't had a single day of rest. This was just another day.

"You should get up."

The voice made her left eye peel open. Ino was standing above her, her bleached hair frizzing wildly in all different directions, her blue eyes circled with dark rings. Temari let out a deep sigh before forcing herself into a half sitting position, her upper body weight resting on her strong forearms. She didn't want to argue with the girl, but she didn't want to get up either. Last night had been enough for her for a while; too much sex, too many obnoxious conversations. She just wanted a break. Ino seemed to sense her hesitation and gave her a weak halfhearted smile.

"I would say it'll be over soon, but I really have no sweet clue if it will or not."

Her joke wasn't funny, and she knew it because without another word, she trudged off towards the showers. Again Temari sighed and fell backwards flat onto her back, her arms wrenching her covers over her head.

* * *

Soupy porridge was the breakfast special once more, only this time the cook decided to throw in small, individual loafs of curry bread atop each bowl. Temari tried to enjoy one of her favorite foods from her Suna days, but she couldn't help but feel like it was much too dry, and consisted of much more bread then curry.

When the girls were done, they all lined up in the main hallway as Baki read their roles. Temari was assigned, big surprise, to yuujo duty. Apparently one of the boys from the party had, as Baki put it, grown a liking to her and called first thing in the morning to see if she was available for a session. Temari mentally kicked herself when she learned that she was originally supposed to be put on cleaning duty for the day, but apparently the client had made an offer Baki didn't want to refuse. She could only imagine who the client was. Shaggy brown hair, square jaw line, broad shoulders, red face paint, and a big mouth. Kiba Inuzuka. And as much as she didn't want to be put into any sexual position with such a _dog_ again, Temari tried to convince herself that it wasn't going to be so bad. She knew what he liked, and at least he wasn't old or sickly. She would be fine.

Baki allowed her for once to do her own hair for the session, so for the first time since she had been home she pulled her hair into four, bushy ponytails on the back of her head. It lifted her spirits slightly, reminded her of home. Her outfit however was the usual brothel attire. Black leather mini skirt, black leather bustier, black leather buckled boots. She looked dreadful. Or at least she did in her opinion, so as quick as she could she pulled on her long red jacket, trying to hide herself under the thin material.

* * *

The trip to Konoha seemed shorter this time around for some reason, and as they approached the large gates, Temari found herself once again staring out the window_. Konoha_. When she was little, she remembered her father telling her that her mother had always wanted to go there, but because of her illness was never able to make the journey. Suna was a desert, dry and painfully hot about 99% of the time. Konoha was a nice get away spot hidden in a clearing in the leaves of a vast forest. It was quiet, never too hot or too cold, and full of famous landscapes that were well-known to the people of the sand, such as the large Hokage Monument that was carved into a large cliff that rest just on the far side of the village. Temari always imagined herself living out her mother's wish with Kankuro and Gaara, and visiting the beauty she had heard about. Never did she imagine that she would instead only come here to sleep with paying clients as a cheap whore. Konoha didn't seem beautiful to her at all, it seemed dirty, and dark.

The carriage rolled through the streets of the town, twisting and turning down roads until it reached another gate. Temari stretched her neck trying to see the symbol that was drawn on the Welcome Sign. It was a large circle with a bunch of waved lines inside of it. She could tell by the pattern that they had to be entering clan grounds. Perfect, now not only did she feel like a washed out harlot, now she had to feel guilty about doing sinful acts on sacred ground.

The carriage stopped at the very last and largest house of the compound, and Baki and Temari got out. She looked the house up and down before looking around the grounds. It was quiet, despite being midday there was not a soul to be seen, and the grounds were quiet small, only about a dozen houses or so, if there was someone out and about Temari would definitely be able to see them. As she followed Baki up the few wooden steps to the front door of the house, she looked above the old frame to see the name, Nara, written in bold letters.

_Nara? _She raised an eyebrow. She could only guess that it was the surname of the family who lived in the house, but if that was the case, since they were in clan property, the clan name had to be the same. Kiba Inuzuka had been her clients name from last night, it didn't make much sense.

Before Baki knocked his thick hand on the door, it creaked open and Temari was met by a pair of familiar, deep brown eyes. She sucked it a breath, and began grinding her teeth together, trying to keep herself from turning around and stomping back to the coach. Standing only a few feet away from her, half hidden behind the partially opened door, stood none other than Shikamaru, same thick wiry ponytail, same green flak jacket, same dull expression. Temari ran over every single curse word in her mind. Her plan was to never see this kid again, and here she was. Had he actually requested her? There had to be some sort of mistake. Maybe he had asked for the blonde from last night, and Baki, with his weak mind had misunderstood her for Ino. That had to be it.

Temari watched, utterly confused as Baki outstretched his arm only for Shikamaru to accept his own hand. They gave a firm shake; Baki spoke some words that completely went over Temari's head. She was in too much shock, and utter bewilderment. Through her hazed over vision, she saw Shikamaru's lips move; he was saying something through a small hidden smirk.

"Are you fucking serious…" the words had left her mouth before she knew she had said them. Both men turned their attention towards her, Baki's mouth pressed down into an angry purse.

"Watch your mouth!" he snapped, his voice loud enough for her to know he meant it, but quiet enough not to draw attention from anyone who might be in their houses nearby. Temari withdrew herself, keeping her wildfire eyes glued to Shikamaru. She wanted him to see the danger that she knew was swimming in the narrowed orbs.

"Sorry," Baki turned back to Shikamaru, his expression apologetic. He was apologizing for her. Shikamaru merely shook his head, his gaze landing anywhere except her.

"It's okay."

Short pause.

"Okay, well. I'll be back in about an hour for her. The session will be 800 as you offered on the phone. Money will be paid up front after the session."

Temari's heart jumped to her throat. What the hell was going on!? He had paid 800 dollars for a session. He was a teenager, what kind of teenager could afford an 800 dollar fling? Baki's hand wrapped around Temari's upper arm and pulled her, tossing her towards the door. Her foot hooked on the last step and she – almost – stumbled right into her new found enemy. She caught herself on the frame of the door however, before she came in contact with the bulk of his flak jacket. Her eyes shot up, and for the first time that day, brown met turquoise. Shikamaru's hands rose to her hips, a motion that she guessed was his attempt to help her steady herself. As quickly as she could she brought her hands down, slapping his away and stood up straight. He kept suit and shrugged off the violent rejection, retreating back into the house again. Temari looked back at Baki once more; he had already gotten back into the coach, before dragging herself after the ponytailed boy. As soon as she shut the door she turned on him, throwing her hands on her hips.

"What the fuck is your problem?" she screamed, not thinking twice if anyone else was in the house. Shikamaru didn't seem shocked by this; he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Hm?" His calm demeanor was pissing her off. It had been pissing her off.

"I thought you said you weren't into this stuff?"

He shook his head slowly in response. "Actually, I said it's not my style. And I wasn't lying." His hand left his pocket and suddenly there was a fist full of bills in front of her face. She blinked and looked for a minute. "I just want to talk."

Swiping his hand away from her face, a high pitch cackle made its way up from her throat. "Talk?" she snorted. "You're paying 800 dollars just to talk to me? You expect me to believe that?"

He tried to hand her the money once more, only to be swatted away again. His left eyebrow twitched, as if he was trying to mask annoyance. It was the first sign of an emotion change since she had met him. He pushed the money back into his pocket. "It's the truth. I don't really care if you believe it or not."

"What could you possibly want to talk to me about? And why me?"

Shikamaru's eyes shifted to the ceiling, he was thinking about how to answer, she could tell. Finally he gave her his trademark response, a shrug of his shoulders.

"I don't know…"

She shook her head at him, marveling at his stupidity. His hand reached behind his head and scratched awkwardly at his neck, his eyes trailed down to the floor. "I don't know." He repeated.

Temari rolled her eyes before leaning her wait against the wall beside her, lifting her leg at the knee and unzipping her leather boots, letting them fall to the floor. She decided that if she were to be stuck there for an hour, she might at least find somewhere more comfortable then standing in the entrance way, even though the stubborn half of her wanted to stay glued to the stop she was at until Baki returned.

Pressing herself to the wall so she could slink past him in the narrow hallway, she could feel Shikamaru's eyes scanning down her body.

_Wants to talk…bullshit. _

The first room from the hallway was a small living room. Nothing more than a kotatsu, a couple bookshelves, a coffee table, and a TV were placed in the room. A few pictures were sitting on the bookshelf along with books, magazines and knickknacks, and a lamp. At the far side of the room, shoji that led outside to a wooden deck was opened slightly, letting the light cool, November breeze blow in from outside. Temari scowled. She had grown to learn that she hated the cold, but she would ignore it for the time being. Her hatred was burning far too much to let anything else bother her.

She walked over to one of the shelves, glancing at the pictures. Shikamaru had followed her into the room, and he watched her every move like a hawk eyeing it's pray, she could feel it. She would ignore that too.

"These your parents?" Temari asked bluntly as she picked up one of the framed pictures. In it, stood two young, dark haired adults, probably both in their twenties. The man was tall, handsome. He, like Shikamaru had his long, tangly hair tied back into a ponytail, and two scars ran across his face. He was smiling a small, closed mouth smile, but you could easily tell he was beyond happy. The woman who was beside him was smiling too, but hers was a large toothy grin. She was by no means beautiful, but she was pretty; her long black hair fell almost to her waist. Her arms were wrapped around the neck of a boy who looked no older than ten, and already exactly like his father. Her eyes softened a bit as she looked at the innocent gleam in his chocolate eyes, and a smile that proved at one time or another, Shikamaru was indeed a decent human being.

Shikamaru didn't move from his spot and instead leaned his shoulder against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah."

"Where are they now?" she smirked to herself, placing the picture back on the shelf and turning around to him. "They know their _little boy _hired a hooker?"

His mouth twisted into something between a frown and a smile as he inhaled deeply through his nose, his nostrils flaring. "My mum goes to a book club every week, so she'll be gone for a few hours. My dad died two months ago."

Despite everything that she had been feeling towards this boy, those six words alone made something deep within her sink into the pit of her stomach until she was sure she was going to be sick. She didn't want to feel bad for him, why should she? But she knew the pain of losing a parent. Both of her parents had died in fact, it was hard.

"Hm." She turned back to the pictures and continued to look over them. She was trying her best to act as if the statement didn't sway her. She didn't want him to know that she had any sort of empathy for him. "How'd he die?"

"He was on a mission in the Hidden Mist. His squad was ambushed."

Another picture caught her eye. This one was of a young teenage Shikamaru, and the chubby boy he had been talking to at the party. They were both standing with arms crossed, two royal blue headbands, obviously ones they had newly acquired, on their foreheads, making their ears push out. A tall man stood behind them smiling with a cigarette between his teeth, each of his hands resting on the boy's heads.

"Who's he?" Shikamaru leaned his head to the side and Temari held up the photo, letting him see it. He didn't answer for a minute, but when he did, his voice had changed dramatically. It was now quiet, and sounded a little more hesitant.

"He's…my sensei. Asuma Sarutobi."

_Sarutobi_, that name sounded familiar. It took only a few milliseconds for Temari to realize that it was the same surname as the Konoha's past Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi. He had mysteriously died about a week after Temari's father had been murdered; she remembered this because at the time, she couldn't help but think that the two were linked somehow. The man in the picture must have been a son, or nephew of his. Temari decided to ask.

"Is he related to your last Hokage?"

"Was," Shikamaru sighed. "He also died. Two months ago actually."

Again Temari hit a sore spot. _Fuck._ She looked at him for a long time, trying to try to read his face. Nothing much had changed, but she knew that deep under his macho mask, he was hurt. She cleared her throat, placing the picture back down.

"My, uh…" it had been a long time since she had talked to a man about something other than sex, and she didn't know why she was doing this now. She hated Shikamaru, just as she hated every other male she had come in contact with in the past few months. She didn't give two shits about his dead teacher, or his dead father, as a matter of fact she was glad that there was something that caused him pain. But if that was the case, why was guilt pooling within her, why was she about to talk to him like a normal human being? "My parents are both dead, so…"

Where was she going with this? She had no idea, so she stopped looked down at the ground, feeling slightly uncomfortable. She could feel Shikamaru's gaze burning a hole through her as they stood in silence, and at that moment she decided to herself that it was indeed a lot easier having sex with someone for an hour, than keeping conversation.

Shikamaru pushed himself away from the wall and slowly made his way over to her, his hand reached behind him into his pants pocket and pulled out a black leather wallet. Temari looked up, hoping that he wasn't going to try the money thing again. But instead of pulling out money, the young shinobi took out a slightly crumpled photograph. He looked at it for a minute, then held it out for her to take. She did.

The picture was of a gorgeous, raven haired, fair skinned woman, who had the most bizarre crimson eyes Temari had ever seen, and a large protruding pregnant belly. She blinked and looked from the picture, to Shikamaru, to the picture again. Was he telling her that he had knocked up some woman who looked twice his age? And he had just spent 800 dollars on a hooker who he just wanted to talk to. Who the hell was this kid?

As if reading her mind, Shikamaru blurted out. "She's…Asuma's fiancée. I'm going to be the godfather." Ah. That made much more sense, and slightly eased Temari's growing disgust towards him. "I just found out a few weeks ago she's having a girl."

"Lucky her." Temari scoffed handing him back the picture. As far as she knew, it was a curse to be born female. Men were scum; they took advantage of girls, they used girls, they degraded girls. The poor kid wouldn't be able to get ahead.

Shikamaru nodded his head slowly. "I don't know anything about girls, really. But I promised my Sensei I'd take care of her, so here I am."

"Oh, so you're trying to figure out how to keep her into turning into someone like me, huh?" Temari hissed, a slight chuckle in her voice.

"I'm just trying to understand." Shikamaru's voice rose a bit, defending himself from her snide accusation. "I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I just don't want to screw up, and I don't have enough dignity to ask any woman around here."

_Pussy._

"Tsk. Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I think you chose the wrong girl to get advice on. Besides, I don't think when your sensei intended you on trying to father the child, it's none of your concern what happens to her. Let her mother deal with it."

"I promised him I'd take care of her." The repeated words were crisp, and he put much emphasis on the words _"promised him"._ Geez he was persistent. He must have really cared for his sensei…not many teenage boys would want to take on the responsibility of a child who was theirs, little own one who wasn't. Temari eyes met his; they reminded her of how hers used to look. Free. They reminded her of her brothers, full of fire, driven.

Kankuro…Gaara…

The last time Temari had seen Gaara, he had smiled at her, something that he didn't do often. He had believed she would be coming home for dinner, he had expected her home. How could she be sure that he still wasn't waiting? And Kankuro, she hadn't even gotten to see Kankuro before she was taken, she was sure that the last thing they said to each other was in a dumb pointless argument. She had meant to apologize… she just forgot that he was scheduled to be sent on a mission early the morning she had accidentally slept in. When Gaara had told her he had already left, she made a mental note to do it as soon as he got back by having his favorite meal -hamburger steak and fried sticky rice – waiting for him. She never got to make it. She hadn't seen them for so long, when she thought about it she couldn't even recall their voices.

Temari hadn't even realized that her own eyes had begun welling with tears until Shikamaru's eyebrows dipped and he leaned his head to the side. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head quickly and rapidly whipped at her eyes, smudging black liner across her cheek bones. She didn't care.

"Of course! Don't be an idiot! I just…got something in my eye." Well that was sad. The oldest excuse in the book. Fuck this situation, this day was turning out worse then she could ever have imagined. A few slow beats of time passed; Shikamaru cleared his throat for the second time causing Temari's racooned eyes to look up at him. He nodded his head towards the kotatsu, she guessed he was motioning her to sit down, and gave her a very small, half smile.

"Do you like tea?" he asked quietly. Temari nodded hesitantly. "Good. I was going to make myself a cup. You sit and I'll get us one."


End file.
